The top line: Waterhouse is an ambitious tasting-menu restaurant set in a restored Victorian workshop just off Hackney’s Columbia Road. It is the successor to Gabriel Waterhouse and Patricia Wakaimba’s nearby Water House Project, which closed this summer when its lease expired. The single sitting, tasting menu and close connection between kitchen and guests carry over, but the new name and setting signal a clearer direction. Waterhouse’s cooking now draws more explicitly on his Northumbrian upbringing and the produce and traditions of the North East and Scotland. The couple have also added a wine bar, with a lighter food offer planned, and a courtyard garden. The Water House Project began as a twice-weekly supper club in Waterhouse’s flat before developing into a restaurant that, particularly in its early years, retained a dinner-party feel. Its open kitchen mixed domestic and commercial equipment, while guests could sit at a large communal table. Set within a canal-side studio, The Water House Project functioned much like one: its open kitchen and regular conversations with guests gave Waterhouse a place to test and refine his cooking and approach to hospitality. Waterhouse is therefore the culmination of over a decade’s work. Waterhouse started cooking professionally aged 23 working under Herbert Berger at Innholders Hall and for the Galvin brothers at Galvin La Chapelle. But he considers himself largely self-taught. He credits his early mentors with his classical foundations, while research and stages at restaurants including Lyle’s, The Clove Club, The Ritz and Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons helped him develop his own style.
On the menu: Waterhouse combines a grounding in classical French cooking with an extensive larder of house-made vinegars, kombuchas, garums, misos and infusions. The £125 tasting menu opens with a deeply flavoured cep and Madeira broth containing cubes of smoky lapsang gel. Early dishes include aged trout and horseradish on a crumpet, and a Lindisfarne oyster with jalapeño cream, pickled cucumber, cucumber granita and green chilli oil poured from an oyster shell. Larger courses include a lightly cooked scallop, hard-seared to give it a contrasting texture, served with perry and koji-fermented barley and paired particularly well with an artisanal cider; and smoked haddock with mussel porridge. Desserts include singing hinnies – Northumbrian griddle cakes somewhere between a scone and a pancake – with Laphroaig and lavender cream, followed by caramelised cream parfait with an intense infusion of pear and pine.
The vibe: The 24-cover dining room occupies what was once a potter’s workshop. Waterhouse has said the old brick building reminded him of a derelict water mill his father restored in Northumberland. More recently a flooring showroom, it’s a seriously handsome space. Original Crittall doors lead through to a bar, while exposed brick, painted surfaces, oak furniture and ceramics give the dining room a spare but warm feel. An open kitchen remains central to the experience, with tables arranged to give guests a view of the cooking. Outside, raised beds supply herbs and flowers for the restaurant and bar, with their contribution to the menu expected to grow as the garden develops.
And another thing: The restaurant’s look and cooking may invite comparisons with the Scandinavian food movement, but Waterhouse rejects the idea of a direct influence. Northumberland shares a latitude with parts of Denmark and Sweden, he points out, so some similarities in ingredients and cooking methods are inevitable. The fact that he has never been to either country adds further weight to his argument.
7A Ezra Street, London E2 7RH